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Thursday, May 07, 2009
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Cabinet decides to go by AG’s advice

Special Correspondent

VS denies charge on leak of Advocate-General’s report from his office

V.S. Achuthanandan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to advise Governor R.S. Gavai against giving sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the prosecution of Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin case. It went by the legal opinion of Advocate-General C.P. Sudhakara Prasad in this regard.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who briefed the media, said the Cabinet had decided to provide its opinion sought by Mr. Gavai on the request of the CBI (addressed to the Governor) for sanction to prosecute Mr. Vijayan.

He declined to give details of the opinion being provided by the government noting that he did not wish to share the details with journalists at this time. It was to be communicated to Mr. Gavai.

Mr. Achuthanandan denied that the details of the Advocate-General’s opinion against the prosecution of the accused in the case were leaked from his office.

“The [Principal] Secretary in my office Sheela Thomas received the Advocate-General’s letter and legal opinion in a sealed cover at 2 p.m. on Saturday. She brought it to the Cliff House [official residence of the Chief Minister] and showed it to me. I asked her to open the envelope and read it out to me. And she started reading it. A little later, the news about the opinion provided by the Advocate-General to the Chief Minister appeared on the television behind me. So, you can make your own guess.”

On the Advocate-General’s comments about the leakage of the legal opinion, the Chief Minister said that he had asked the former over the phone about the displeasure expressed by him at the press conference on Tuesday. The former had replied that he had sent a letter to him in this regard. “I will comment about that if and when I receive the letter.”

The CBI had listed the CPI(M) State secretary as the ninth accused in the corruption case in a report submitted before a supervising court. It sought permission of the Governor to proceed with the prosecution as Mr. Vijayan was the Electricity Minister at the time of the commitment of the alleged crime. Mr. Vijayan is accused of conspiracy in clinching the deal for the renovation of three hydroelectric power stations in the State with the Canadian consultants SNC Lavalin, causing heavy loss to the exchequer.

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